


Nightmares in Arms

by running_with_luck



Category: Voltron: Legendary Defender
Genre: Other
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2016-08-27
Updated: 2016-08-27
Packaged: 2018-08-11 07:31:45
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,424
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/7882297
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/running_with_luck/pseuds/running_with_luck
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Shiro has a nightmare and Pidge helps him cope.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Nightmares in Arms

**Author's Note:**

  * For [Zeda](https://archiveofourown.org/users/Zeda/gifts).



Deep in the depths of the Castle, in the halls of the barracks, noises of distress echoed down the large, empty halls, unnoticed by the few that lived there. Shiro, nestled in his bed alone, was trying to sleep, but the nightmares had other plans…

 

* * *

 

 

Shiro was bound at the wrists and ankles to what he assumed was an operating table of some kind.

 

“You… will be my greatest triumph.” Shiro could hear the old croon’s voice as she looked over his bared body, eyeing him up as a wild dog would its next meal. He did not like how long her eyes lingered on his lower half, as he had nothing to cover himself. They had robbed him of his clothes as a means to rob him of his dignity.

 

He strained against what kept him down, but the metal bands on his wrists were too strong for him to break. The binding on his right arm ached, wounded and likely broken from his confrontation with Myzax in the ring. It would be a very long time before that arm was remotely usable again and that made Shiro anxious. It didn’t stop him from trying, though, as he ignored the steady drip of blood that surely was coming from his arm.

 

“There’s no need to resist, Champion” Haggar cooed to Shiro as if it might comfort him somehow.

 

“You will become stronger and more powerful than any that have come before you. Lord Zarkon will be most pleased with you, and you will provide the ultimate entertainment for him.”

 

She stepped into view so Shiro could see her face. Yellow eyes, a cruel wolfish grin with fangs bared in glee.

 

“I… I will never…”

 

“You _will_ obey.”

 

“ARGH!” Sharp, burning hot electricity shot through Shiro’s entire body, making him scream. As soon as it came, it was gone, leaving Shiro a twitching, groaning mess on the metal table.

 

“The less you resist, the easier this will be. It is the only choice.”

 

Huffing desperately, Shiro tried again to get out of the bonds that held him there, despite how weak he felt. It was all he could do. He had to keep fighting, otherwise…

 

“ _Enough_.”

 

Electricity surged through his body again, causing Shiro to arch up, twisting and screaming as he tried to get away from it.

 

“NNNGHAAAAH!” The second shock hurt more, his body still struggling to recover from the last surge of electricity, his vision going white with pain. Even after it had stopped, he twisted and groaned, his chest heaving with effort.

 

“Your feeble body is more durable than I had imagined. It is no wonder that you managed to defeat the previous Champion.”

 

Shiro couldn’t say anything anymore, unable to conjure up the will to talk back. All he knew was that if he ever had the chance, he would lash out and murder Haggar.

 

“Your ability to heal is already starting. This is good. Perhaps the procedure won’t kill you after all.”

 

He heard her shuffle away and managed to will his eyes open to watch her. Droids marched into position, holding various tools that did not fit on the table near by. Just looking at the sharp metal objects made him sick to his stomach, which was unfortunately empty.  He couldn’t even vomit on her in retaliation.

 

Staring at her and the tools made panic well up inside of Shiro and he had to force himself to look away to keep himself sane. Escape. Focus on escape. He had to find a way out of this somehow. He tried his bindings again, focusing just on his right hand, pulling as hard as he could and harder still.

 

“I see that you will not learn.”

 

Suddenly, she was back and with something resembling a large electric saw in her hand.

 

“Perhaps this will teach you. One way, or another, I will make you the best weapon in the galaxy…”

 

The blade whirred to life, spinning dangerously she lowered it into his arm. Shiro struggled as hard as he might, desperate to not let that thing touch him.

 

“No… No! NO!!”

Shiro’s vision filled with slashes of his own blood, his screams melding with Haggar’s cruel laughter.

 

* * *

 

 

“NOOOOOO!”

 

Woken by his own screams, Shiro sat bolt upright. His hand activated itself as he attacked an invisible enemy, slashing into and damaging the walls around his bed.

 

Breathing heavily, he slowly started to realize that he wasn’t on a Galra ship, being experimented on by the evil witch that stole his arm. He looked down at his glowing hand and let it deactivate as he steadied his breathing. Phantom pain throbbed where skin met metal and Shiro placed his human hand over where the connection was.

 

“Just a dream…” he told himself in an attempt to calm himself. It didn’t work. The second he closed his eyes, all he could see was Haggar’s laughing face.

 

There was no chance of sleep now, so he decided to get up and dressed. Maybe he should go see his lion and sit with them for a while. Even if the great beast couldn’t speak, there was a connection they had and perhaps he could find peace there.

 

Since they all needed to be on the same schedule, they used Castle Time to monitor it and guarantee that everyone got a sufficient amount of sleep while in the deep vastness of space. It was 3am and entirely too early for anyone to be awake, so Shiro thought he was going to have the castle to himself for the moment.

 

He walked through the large empty halls, listening to the sound of his footsteps and the distant hum of Altean technology. There were no Galra soldiers marching through the halls he needed to time to get past, no droids to fight off, but that didn’t make him any less wary. Silence didn’t always mean calm.

 

As he rounded the corner, he heard noises coming from inside the black lion’s chamber and instantly was on edge, his nightmare still fresh in his mind. Carefully, he peaked around the corner.

 

Sitting on the floor, in front of a few monitors and various technological machines, was Pidge. Shiro instantly relaxed at the sight of them. Not a Galra. Of course not. He felt a little silly for thinking otherwise.

 

“Burning the midnight oil?” Shiro asked as he walked in, making Pidge jump.

 

“Sh-Shiro!” Pidge scrambled to stand up and face him, nearly dropping a monitoring tool in the process.

 

“Uh, yeah. Kinda …” They ran a hand through their hair as they glanced back at the monitors sheepishly.

 

“I’ve been trying to optimize the cloaking devices on the lions to see if I can get them to last longer. It’s harder than I thought it would be, but I managed to add 5 more seconds.”

 

“That’s pretty impressive.” Shiro said as he came to stand not far away from Pidge with his usual gentle smile.

 

Pidge blushed lightly at the compliment. A compliment from Shiro meant a lot, because Pidge knew Shiro would never talk down to them and meant what he said.

 

“Why are you up?” Pidge asked, curious. They thought they were the only one that stayed up this late working, but wouldn’t be surprised if Shiro was doing some late night training to stay fit.

 

Shiro’s smile faltered as he struggled to be honest with his teammate. He could hear Coran’s voice yelling ‘Open your mind! There are no secrets between paladins!’

 

“Couldn’t sleep…” he concluded, keeping it simple.

 

“Did… you remember something?” Pidge asked cautiously, not sure if it was their place to ask Shiro such a personal question, but if there was a chance that Shiro remembered something else about their dad or brother, they desperately needed to know.

 

Despite Shiro’s best efforts to keep a brave face in front of Pidge, he couldn’t deny that they guessed right. He sighed and walked forward, using the time to get to the Black Lion’s paw to gather the courage to speak. He reached out and touched the metal with his Galra tech hand. “I remembered the night I got my arm.”

 

Pidge felt their stomach drop and instantly regretted asking.

 

“Would… Would talking about it help?” When Shiro looked back at them, Pidge held up their hands and waved them to dismiss the question. “Or not! You don’t have to do anything you don’t want to! I just meant it as, like, a way to help you, since you helped me so much when it came to my family, but I understand if it’s not something you’re comfortable with since I don’t know much…” Pidge babbled, panicked that they had said the wrong thing.

 

Shiro laughed softly, touched by Pidge’s kindness and nodded. He sat down and leaned against the metal paw of his lion and patted the area next to him. Pidge, getting the message, trotted over to sit on Shiro’s right.

 

“It comes in flashes” Shiro finally started a long moment. He kept his focus on the plain silver wall on the other side of the hangar, not wanting to see Pidge’s reactions. Pity was not what he was after.

 

“I’m not even sure if the nightmares are real, or a twisted version of it, but… It feels real. I keep seeing images of me fighting droids, people in the ring, or days of torture…” He tried to just casually shrug of the torture bit. He didn’t want to scare Pidge too much.

 

“Tonight, I had a nightmare about the day after I had defeated Myzax.”

 

Pidge recalled the robotic version of the ex-gladiator they had fought not too long ago as Voltron. To think that had once been a real creature at one point… Fighting that alone must’ve been terrifying.

 

“They had me strapped to a table. I couldn’t get out. My arm had been wounded because of the fight and they wanted me to keep fighting. Rather than let it heal, they cut it off.”

 

Pidge’s own arm hurt at the very thought of losing it. Worse yet, they didn’t like the mental picture of Shiro, tied down and screaming as they cut off his arm.

 

Pidge saw Shiro reach around and hold onto the spot where metal met skin, not visible through his shirt.

 

“Does it hurt?” Pidge asked as they reached up a cautious hand to hover over Shiro’s. They didn’t know what they could do for Shiro. Technology was different than human biology and mixing the two wasn’t Pidge’s forte, but they sure as hell would try.

 

“Not unlike any other ache or pain from a scar. It’s… When it activates, it burns. Kinda like when you hold your hand over a candle. Not damaging, but painful.”

 

“Hmm…” Now Pidge had a challenge. The tech alone was something else, and definitely more of their talent. Without consent, Pidge picked up Shiro’s metal arm and pulled it closer to their face to get a better look.

 

“Sounds like a lack of insulation around the wiring. They didn’t take ability to feel into consideration when this was built, or maybe it got damaged?”

 

“Pidge…”

 

“You might need a kind of heat sink, which I could probably link into the rest of the metal outside grounding, or some kind of air circulation, but that might be too bulky.”

 

“Pidge!”

 

Pidge finally looked up at Shiro and Shiro just smiled softly. “You really don’t have to do any of that.”

 

Pidge, however, gave Shiro a concerned and steady look. They got up onto their knees to gain some height and kissed Shiro’s cheek unexpectedly, shocking Shiro.

 

“I want to help you.” Pidge concluded, as they sat back onto their heels to look at Shiro properly, blushing bright pink, but still stubbornly determined. “If I can do something, I will. No one deserves to hurt so much. Especially not you.”

 

Feeling that arguing was futile, Shiro sighed and ruffled his human hand through Pidge’s hair, his cheeks warm, which he ignored. Pidge could be so cute when they were intent on getting what they wanted.

 

“Okay. We’ll do it your way.”

 

“You better…” Pidge mumbled, finally looking away bashfully. “C’mon. I’ll get some specs and I’ll see what I can do-”

 

As Pidge got up to get something to monitor the arm, they wobbled and stumbled on the way.

 

“I don’t think so.” Shiro said, getting up after Pidge and placing a hand on Pidge’s shoulder to keep them steady.

 

“What? But you just said-“ Pidge started to object.

 

“I said we’d do it your way, but first, you need to get some sleep. Can’t have you toying around in my arm while half awake, right?”

 

Pidge pouted, their lower lip wibbling, but they knew Shiro was right. He didn’t say it, but the possibility of invisibility and boosters being accidentally added to the arm was a very real threat when Pidge was tired.

 

“Okay… But as soon as we get up-“

 

“You get free range. Promise.” Shiro said with a chuckle. Gently, Shiro bent down and scooped Pidge up into his arms.

 

“Woah, wait, what?” Pidge’s blush was back in full swing as they desperately clung to Shiro’s neck to keep from falling.

 

“Can’t have you tripping all the way back to the barracks, now can we?” Shiro said with a playful smile, knowing he was right. He would respect Pidge wanting down, though, if they wanted.

 

“… Fine. Put me down if we see any of the others though, okay? I’m not some damsel in distress” and Pidge was NOT about to give Lance fodder for teasing.

 

“You got it.” Shiro smiled and started the trek back.

 

About halfway there, Shiro looked down when he felt Pidge’s grip on his neck loosen and noticed that Pidge had fallen asleep somewhere along the way. He never really noticed just how small and light Pidge was. Pidge was so strong and had such a large presence when awake; it was easy to forget about it. Shiro made a mental note to check on Pidge more often. Not to nag or get on their case about anything, but just to make sure they were alright. He wanted to protect Pidge.

 

Shiro reached Pidge’s room and entered. As he tucked Pidge into bed, he placed a gentle kiss on Pidge’s forehead and ran a hand through their hair.

 

“Get some rest, Pidge.”

 

When he didn’t get any reaction, when he was sure Pidge couldn’t hear him, he whispered to himself without realizing it

 

“I love you.”

**Author's Note:**

> I wrote this for my friend, who is amazing and wonderful, but I also wrote this for myself and my girlfriend. This friend is also a large part of why we wanted to watch Voltron. (Love you, Z~) Shiro and Pidge are cute, okay? Okay? Okay.


End file.
